Page 51 of Prognosis Incompatible

He remembered how excited she had been when she had come to see him and had given him the stones as a memento. A further ultrasound had showed no evidence of any remaining gallstones and she had been one very happy customer.

So too had Connie who, after two weeks, had more energy than she’d known what to do with. He remembered how emotional she’d been when she’d thanked him and every couple of days she’d pop in with some home-made cake or biccies to show her appreciation.

‘Enough,’ he’d groaned at her good-naturedly when she had brought him some mouth-watering Anzac biscuits the other day. ‘I’ll be as fat as a house,’ he laughed.

‘Oh, I don’t know.’ She winked. ‘I hear you’re getting plenty of exercise these days.’

It seemed as if everyone knew about him and Maddy. The fact that he didn’t seem to care should have rung rather large alarm bells. Were they heading into a relationship?

And would that be so bad?

‘Are you OK, Dr Hunt?’ asked Jenny.

Marcus pulled himself out of his reverie. ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’ He pushed thoughts of Maddy aside. ‘What can I do for you today?’

‘It’s Trent,’ she said. ‘I think he may need some more vitamins. He’s been very lethargic the last few days. We’ve just moved and I’ve been putting it down to that and him being off his food again. The naturopath in our old place had him on a vitamin cocktail because he’s always been a fussy eater, appetite of a sparrow, and I worry about his nutrition.’

‘He is a bit of a skinny Minnie,’ said Marcus. ‘Pale, too.’

She shrugged. ‘He’s always been pale.’

Marcus rose from his chair and came around to squat in front of Jenny and Trent.

‘Hey, little mate,’ he said quietly.

Trent looked at him solemnly and tucked his face shyly into his mother’s breast.

Marcus didn’t have a good feeling about Trent. Close up he looked paler still. He looked far beyond the ‘pale-child’ label. He looked anaemic. ‘I’ll just have a little look at him,’ he said to Jenny, and indicated that she should lay him on the couch.

Trent lay docilely as Marcus examined him. It was hard to believe that he and Connor were the same age. The boy didn’t feel feverish at all but Marcus noted the pallor of his inner lower eyelids and the mucous membranes of his mouth. He felt some enlarged lymph nodes in his neck and lifted the boy’s shirt to listen to his chest.

That was when he noticed the bruising. And his bad feeling intensified. He had multiple small bruises over his stomach. ‘Has he had these for long?’ he asked.

Jenny gasped. ‘I noticed a couple when I was dressing him this morning. But he didn’t have this many. And he has a couple on his arms and legs, but he’s six. He’s always falling over and hurting himself.’

Marcus pushed up Trent’s sleeves and noted the bruises on his arms and then inspected his legs. He felt in Trent’s armpits and groin and found further lumps. A six-year-old with lethargy, pallor, bruising and enlarged lymph nodes. He shut his eyes briefly and hoped to God that he was wrong.

Pulling Trent’s shirt down, he indicated that Jenny could bring him back to the desk.

‘I want you to take Trent and have these blood tests done right away,’ he said to Jenny, writing out a pathology form. ‘The nearest place is two blocks away.’ He circled the box on the form that said ‘Urgent’ several times. ‘I’ll ring them and let them know you’re coming and to put a rush on it.’

Jenny took the slip from him, worry marring her features. ‘What’s wrong?’

Marcus chose his words carefully, not wanting to alarm her too much at this stage and certainly not when she had to get in her car and drive. ‘I think he’s anaemic. I want to know why.’

‘So...’ She looked confused. ‘Can’t vitamins help with anaemia?’

Marcus’s heart went out to her. If Trent had what he thought he had, he was going to need much more than vitamins. ‘Let’s just get the blood results first and then we’ll talk about how to treat it,’ he said gently.

Marcus saw fear flit through Jenny’s eyes as it started to dawn on her that there might be something seriously wrong with her son.

‘There’s something you’re not telling me,’ she said. ‘I need to know what you’re thinking.’

Marcus wavered for a moment. This was always the difficult part. To share his suspicions before they were confirmed to prepare her a little or to keep mum until he knew for sure and completely knock the wind out of her.

‘There are lots of things that can cause anaemia,’ he prevaricated.

‘Yes, but what do you think it is?’ she insisted.

---